It’s our 104th episode which marks our two year anniversary! To celebrate this momentous occasion we got (almost) the whole HPN staff together for a big one. So big it’s broken up into two parts. In this, the first part, Loren, RDT, Rick, and (for the movie section) Jen, talk Movies and TV. Topics include:

Black Dynamite 2?

Oscar nominees announced

Casey Affleck withdraws from presenting best actress Oscar

John Cena might be Duke Nukem

Sony moving all the release dates

Peter Jackson making WWI documentary for BBC

Ryan Reynolds to star in Clue remake

Emily V. Gordon to adapt novel The Nest for Amazon Studios

Cat in the Hat animated movie coming from WB

Dundee movie not a movie but has added Hugh Jackman

Juman3 potentially fast-tracked for Christmas 2019

Latest Mission: Impossible title revealed

Rumored Superb Owl trailers

Bill & Ted 3 title/plot details

Movie Pass is apparently a distribution company now, also not covering all AMC locations anymore

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Wide Release

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Loren: I just added the other two movies in this franchise to my list. I’m curious but know that they can’t be good per se. If I enjoy one or both of those I may give this a shot, but I’m not running out to the theater for it.

RDT: I haven’t seen any of these. So, I doubt I’m gonna start with this one.

Rick: This is the movie that nearly killed Dylan O’Brien. For his sake, I hope it does well, but I am not going to see it.

Jen: How do you type out a shrug emoji? Like which keys do you use? I always end up cutting and pasting cause I just can’t figure it out.

Limited Release

American Folk

Loren: There might be a sweet movie in there but I’ll never know.

RDT: 35 seconds. That’s how long I lasted into the trailer. So, yeah, hard pass.

Rick: Meeehhhh…?

Jen: It’s the Indie-est Indie Movie that ever movied. No thanks.

The Competition

Loren: Gee, I wonder how this movie will turn out for these horrible people. On second thought, no I don’t.

RDT: I met Chris Klein once. He couldn’t remember the name of the Cobra villain with the metal mask (Destro). That’s all I got.

Rick: Remember Thora Birch and Chris Klein? Be prepared to forget them again when no one sees this movie. Also, these people are assholes. What kind of bet is that to make against your friends’ relationships?

Jen: She cheats on him because she’s afraid of commitment, but then HE doesn’t cheat on HER and she realizes she loves him and they both win. Can we go home now?

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Wide Release

12 Strong

Loren: Though it’s got a great cast, this looks like half a standard war movie and half a Call of Duty game (put a horse in it). Maybe someday but not in the theaters.

RDT: What Rick said, except for the “wanting to see it” part.

Rick: I can’t imagine that this isn’t going to be full of clichés and a wickedly stretched version of the truth, but this cast is excellent. I want to see it just for this ensemble. I doubt I’ll trek to theaters for it, though.

Jen: I have a lot of mixed feelings on this one. The trailer managed to hit me in the feels for the first few seconds but then sort of turned a bit to jingoistic about the war on terror in a way that turned me off. I have nothing but admiration and respect for these men and what they did, and this does look like an amazing cast (Michael Shannon seems to elevate anything he’s in), but I can’t see spending my precious movie-going resources on this.

Den of Thieves

Loren: I love a good heist movie. Sadly, this doesn’t look like one. I’ll wait on it.

RDT: I’ll give it a shot streaming.

Rick: I mean, this isn’t a terrible concept, but there’s no way that the movie lives up to its setup. I guarantee I’ve sat through a lot worse, though. Call it a rental.

Jen: Where Michael Shannon elevates everything, Gerard Butler tends to do the opposite. This is a meh for me.

Forever My Girl

Loren: Oof. Not much in that trailer made me want to see this movie. And then to top it all off, that little girl is TOO precocious. Pass.

RDT: Jen’s gif is better than anything I could come up with.

Rick: Wait… *looks it up* This isn’t a Nicholas Sparks joint? Huh. I mean, his involvement wouldn’t have gotten me to watch it. I’m just surprised, is all.

Rick steps in for Loren as he’s off with The Lady(I don’t know how to do the TM). So let’s get this out of the way, this week’s episode is long. So long, in fact, we’re cutting it in two. Part 1 is all the news and Part 2 will be all the universe updates and what we watched.

Millie Bobbie Brown is lil lady Sherlock Holmes

Vin Diesel is Bloodshot…?

The Academy is dumb

Leo joins Tarantino

Bad Times at the El Royale gets some cast

The Goldfinch is Wright….get it?

Bob Odenkirk is Nobody

Fox cancels Patty Hearst biopic

Will Clive Owen hunt Gemini Man?

We’ll still have to go to the movies to see the movies for at least another year

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Wide Release

Insidious: The Last Key

Loren: Key fingers just don’t seem that scary to me. Good for Lin Shaye to get a franchise later in life though.

RDT: I rarely watch good horror movies. So, why would I waste my time with this?

Rick: Man, they just can’t stop shitting out sequels to this poor man’s version of Poltergeist. Please let this be the last one.

Jen: Wow, so there are four of these now? Does the “Last” in the title indicate they won’t be making more? Somehow I doubt it. I look forward to Insidious 5: The Search for More Money, thanks.

Limited Release

Blame

Loren: My only problem here (because this does look compelling) is that it seems to be romanticising the teacher/student relationship thing. That’s kinda not cool.

RDT: I might check it out. Or I might completely forget about it.

Rick: Not really hiding the fact that it’s a modern retelling of The Crucible, is it? Nevertheless, I might take this one in from my living room if it stays on my radar.

Jen: One of my New Year’s resolutions is to see more movies. So far, this week, this is the leading contender. I like Chris Messina and I watched the trailer all the way through without surfing away, so that’s a plus – not a strong plus, but a plus.

On Body and Soul

Loren: If nothing else, I’d like to win a Golden Bear at some point. Nevertheless, I probably will never see this movie.

Rick: If nothing else it looks beautiful. Unless reviews are strong I may skip this one.

Jen: This is interesting. It pops up on a lot of autism-related boards and such since the female lead has some Asperger-like behaviors, but it doesn’t use that as a selling point, or even a discussion point, which I think is awesome. That alone might be worth me checking this out.